Foreign fighters now reviled by Fallujah residents -Knight Ridder

[Rose Siding]

SAKHLAWIYA, Iraq - The fighters came to Fallujah last year with piles of cash, strange accents and a militant vision of Islam that was at once foreign and fearsome to residents emerging from nearly 30 years of Saddam Hussein's secular regime.

Yet out of custom and necessity, tribal locals offered their Arab guests sanctuary and were repaid with promises to help keep American forces out of the town. This week, with U.S. troops battling their way through the Sunni Muslim stronghold, several Fallujah residents said it had been a grave mistake to trust the foreigners who turned their humble stand against foreign occupation into a sophisticated terror campaign.

Once admired as comrades in an anti-American struggle, foreign fighters have become reviled as the reason U.S. missiles are flattening homes and turning Iraq's City of Mosques into a killing field. Their promises of protection were unfulfilled, angry residents said, with immigrant rebels moving on to other outposts and leaving besieged locals to face a superpower alone.

The fact that Iraqis are turning away from foreign terrorists, however, doesn't necessarily mean that they're turning toward the United States and Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government.

"We didn't want the occupation and we didn't want the terrorists, and now we have both," said a Fallujah construction worker who gave his name as only Abu Ehab, 30. "I didn't think the Arabs would be so vicious, and I never thought the Americans would be so unmerciful."

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/10166880.htm

[maddezmom]

1. * said it over and over...rather fight the terryaist over there than here

too bad he brought the fight to Iraq, where the "terryaist" weren't before the war....Bring It On!!

[grumpy old fart]

2. People are basically the same everywhere....

They want to live in peace and security. They want a better life for their children. They want decent food and shelter.

[htuttle]

3. It's amazing that this reporter...

...can see all this from their hotel room in Baghdad.

Wonder if they got a little help with the story from CENTCOM? -- 'on background' of course...

[daleo]

5. The reporter might have ESP

A case of mind reading, no doubt.

[maddezmom]

6. or perhaps a wireless gadget on his back

;)

[Massacure]

10. ESP? No, he's getting his info from god himself.

:eyes:

[Rose Siding]

7. This says they have someone in Fallujah

snip> A Knight Ridder special correspondent in Fallujah contributed to this report. He is not named for security reasons.
...............

Maintaining healthy, due skepticism, Knight Ridder has done the best Iraq reporting, generally imo. The piece doesn't paint the US as the good guys either, noting that while there is growing anger and frustration with foreign fighters (as well as religious respect) residents haven't turned toward the US.

[TahitiNut]

9. Hannah Allam (Oklahoma State graduate) 'specializes' in such stories

http://www.pelicanfile.com/reporter.cfm?ReporterID=464

Enemy dead put at 600 in Fallujah
TOM LASSETER and HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Friday, November 12, 2004
American forces have killed about 600 insurgents in their fight to retake Fallujah, the U.S. military said yesterday as troops pushed toward the city's southern corridor, where the streets are lined with bombs and sniper hideouts.

U.S. troops raid homes of 2 critical Sunni clerics
HANNAH ALLAM and Yasser Salihee in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Friday, November 12, 2004
American troops raided the homes and offices of two prominent Sunni Muslim clerics yesterday after both men made comments criticizing the U.S.-led offensive in Fallujah.

Forces press ahead in Fallujah
HANNAH ALLAM and TOM LASSETER in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Thursday, November 11, 2004
U.S.-led forces controlled at least half of Fallujah yesterday, as troops continued advancing through fierce, close-quarter clashes with insurgents in the Sunni Muslim stronghold.

U.S. forces, rebels battle in Fallujah
TOM LASSETER and HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Tuesday, November 9, 2004
U.S.-led forces bombed and fought their way into Fallujah yesterday, and insurgents fought back with mortar rounds, machine-gun fire and hidden explosives.

U.S. forces hit Fallujah
HANNAH ALLAM and TOM LASSETER in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Monday, November 8, 2004
U.S. forces stormed into western Fallujah early today, hours after Iraq's interim government declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout most of the country, apparently in anticipation of the battle for control of the insurgent stronghold.

Insurgents wage attacks across Iraq
TOM LASSETER and HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Sunday, November 7, 2004
At least 29 Iraqis, many policemen, died yesterday in a series of coordinated attacks in Samarra, while a convoy attack left 20 Marines wounded in a rebel-held area where U.S. forces are poised to launch what could be the biggest battle of the year.

Bush, buoyed by his win, likely to move fast on Iraq
JONATHAN S. LANDAY and HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Thursday, November 4, 2004
President Bush's reelection could give him greater freedom of action in Iraq, and he is expected to move quickly to try to stabilize the country, beginning with a major assault on Sunni Muslim insurgents.

In Fallujah, fighters gird for assault
HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Rebels dressed as Iraqi police manned checkpoints in this insurgent-controlled city yesterday as U.S. forces continued to mass outside in preparation for an assault nearly everyone is certain will come soon.

Warning is issued on Fallujah
HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Monday, November 1, 2004
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warned yesterday that time was almost up for a peace agreement that could prevent a bloody, decisive battle in Fallujah, the city where insurgents are in control and U.S. Marines are poised to drive them out.

Bin Laden sends U.S. a message
JONATHAN S. LANDAY and HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Saturday, October 30, 2004
Osama bin Laden yesterday took direct responsibility for the first time for the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes and warned that the United States faced new attacks if it continued to oppress Muslims.

U.S. agrees to transfer some to Iraqi custody
HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Friday, October 29, 2004
The U.S. military has agreed to hand legal custody of some suspected foreign fighters to the interim Iraqi government, which has plans to broadcast the men's names and photos on television, American and Iraqi officials said yesterday.

New Iraqi soldiers slain
HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Monday, October 25, 2004
The blood-drenched bodies of about 50 new Iraqi soldiers ambushed and killed - some execution-style - were discovered yesterday northeast of Baghdad in one of the deadliest attacks yet on Iraq's nascent security forces.

Top-ranked soldier in Abu Ghraib abuse pleads guilty
HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Thursday, October 21, 2004
The highest-ranking soldier accused in the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal pleaded guilty yesterday to punching and sexually humiliating Iraqi inmates, according to testimony from his military hearing at a U.S. base in Baghdad.

CARE chief in Iraq abducted; mortar attack hits guard base
NANCY A. YOUSSEF and HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Kidnappers yesterday grabbed the Iraq director of CARE International, a humanitarian group dedicated to poverty relief that has operated in Iraq since 1991. Margaret Hassan stopped her car on the way to work in Baghdad, and the kidnappers reportedly called her name and told her they needed to speak to her about business matters. She walked over, and they took her.

Seeking vote clout, Sunnis woo militants
NANCY A. YOUSSEF and HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Sunni Muslim political leaders are reaching out to militants in Iraq's most violent cities for help getting out the vote to compete with much better organized Shiite Muslim rivals in January's elections.

Sadr rebels trade weapons for cash
Omar Jassim and HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Tuesday, October 12, 2004
With nervous looks on their faces and small arsenals in their cars, supporters of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr trickled into Iraqi police stations yesterday to surrender weapons as part of a government arms-for-cash agreement to end weeks of fighting in Baghdad's dangerous Sadr City quarter.

Sadr's fighters agree to turn in weapons
HANNAH ALLAM and Huda Ahmed in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Sunday, October 10, 2004
Followers of the rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr promised yesterday to surrender their weapons in an agreement with the interim Iraqi government to end weeks of fighting and restore security to Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood before January elections.

Bomb found in Green Zone brings U.S. worry to new level
HANNAH ALLAM in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Friday, October 8, 2004
Residents of the fortresslike American headquarters in Baghdad known as the Green Zone were on high alert yesterday after the discovery of a bomb there indicated that insurgents had infiltrated the village-sized compound. Outside Baghdad, roadside bombings killed two more American soldiers.

[Comadreja]

4. The US troops "foreign fighters"

Worse, they are foreign occupiers, and the magnet that drew in the zealots from other countries. They have also pulled in hired mercenaries, adding to the swarm of menacing foreigners harrassing this suffering people.

[NNN0LHI]

8. Oh, yea.They ain't mad at us for the bombs and shells we dropped on them

Well, then. Show us the pictures of the dancing in the streets, and rose petals being thrown at the US soldiers as these Iraqis are liberated from those dastardly foreign fighters. I think this writer may be on drugs or something?

Don